Manufacture of woolen boots



2 Sheets-Sheet; 1. SMITH.

(No Model.)

.DODGE 8v R. D. 0

MANUPAGTURB 0F WooLBN BOOTS.

Patented Jen. 10, 1888.

N. PETERS, PlwlvLlhogrnpher. Wnsmnglnn. 0.0.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2. DODGE 8v R. D. O. SMITH.

MANUFAOTURE OP WOOLBN BOOTS.

(No Model.)

No.376,372. Patented Jan. 10, 1888.

N. P'EYERS Pmwumnmpm. wmingtm n c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALLACE H. DODGE AND ROBERT D. O. SMITH, OF MISHAWAKA, INDIANA.

lVlANUFACT-URE OF WOOLEN BOOTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 376,372, dated January10, 1888..

Application tiled October 17, 18B?. Serial No. 252,531. (No model.)

.To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, WALLACE H. DODGE and ROBERT D. O.V SMITH, ofMishawaka, in the county of St. Joseph and State of Indiana, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in the Manner of Making Knit Boots;and We do hereby declare that the following is a full and accuratedescription of the same.

In Letters Patent No. 367 ,333, granted to M. V. Beiger and AdolphusEberhart, July 26, 1887, it is stated- In boots made from wool therequired stiffness can only be attained by the use of a quantity ofstock in the leg sufficient when shrunk and f ulled to acquire therebythe desired hardness and stiffness. t i Ve discovered, therefore, thatto procure a boot with sufficient stock knitted into the leg it isnecessary to make a loosely-twisted yarn, and much larger than anyheretofore in use, and to do so it was necessary to construct cardingand, spinning machines largerin size than those heretofore in use. Theyarnwe employ is very looseand, say, th ree-sixteenths or one-quarter ofan inch in diameter, equivalent to from fifteen to twentyfive times thesize of woolen yarn spun for any other purpose.

We have discovered that equally good results-4. e., an equally hard andstiffl boot leg and foot-may be made of yarn of ordinary size, producedon ordinary machinery,without the use of knitting-machines; andtherefore, while we do not claim to have, broadly, invented a boot madewholly of yarn, our invention consists in the method of making a bootWholly of yarn by braiding together two or more independent strands ofordinary singletwist yarn in large proportions and subsequently fallingand felting the same down to size in ordinary falling and feltingmachinery.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l shows in perspective abraiding-machine and a braided boot partly completed. Fig. 2 representsthe braided fabric of the boot." Fig. 3 represents the boot ascompleted.

A is the braiding-machine, which may be similar to otherbraiding-machines in common use for braiding tubular goods. It may -beadapted to carry three or more spools, b, in train, or severalindependent loosely-twistedV yarns may be wound on one spool andsimultaneously fed to the fabric. rIlhe former is preferred, because itmakes it possible to cut out or add in yarns at any period of theprocess. Otherwise, however, the single spool involves less mechanismand less liability to derangement.

C is the former, roughly in the formof a boot greatly exaggerated, overwhich the braiding takes place. The boot D thus produced will beapproximately, in the form of the foot and leg, very much larger thanthe finished boot and very loose in texture. In course of manufacture a.succession of formers, O, will be used, and these will be successivelyremoved as the successive boot-blanks are separated after leaving themachine. After the blanks Dare nished on the braiding-machine they arefulled and finished on the last in the usual waywith Woolen boot-s, asshown in Fig. 3.

The advantages gained by our improvement are importantand substantial.The yarn may be produced on ordinary carding and spinning machinery, andthe braiding is accomplished on a braiding-machine instead of aknittingmachine, the braiding-machine being much cheaper and less liableto derangement than a knitting-machine. Therefore the cost of productionwill be lessened.

Having described our invention, we claiml. .The herein-describedimprovement n the Inode of making wool boots, which consists in formingthe boot-blank of an exaggerated size by braiding two or moreindependent singletwisted strands of yarn together, and subsequentlyshrinking or falling to the desired size and finishing on the last, asusual with Wool boots.

2. The herein-described improvemcntin the mode of making wool boots,which consists in braiding two or more independent looselytwistedstrands of yarn to form a series of continuous boot-blanks of anexaggerated sizel over a succession of foriners, separating such blanks,falling or shrinking them tov the required size, and finishing them ontree and last.

VVALLAOE H. DODGE. R. D. O. SMITH.

Witnesses as to signature of Wallace H. Dodge:

M. W. MIX, W. B. HosEoRD, Vitnesses as to signature of R. D. O. Smith:

J. B. MCGIRR, EDWARD STUETEVANT.

